America’s Criminal Justice System Is Failing Young People Like Me. Clean Slate Laws Are the Answer

Peter Rezk knows firsthand how the U.S. criminal justice system is failing young people of color like him. Each year, around 200,000 young people—many of whom are people of color—are caught up in the criminal justice system and arrested for minor offenses that could follow them for life. Clean slate legislation has the potential to change this system by ensuring that a criminal record is no longer a life sentence to poverty and joblessness.